The Mineola coaching staff had to be satisfied with the work of the Yellowjackets in the first half against the Arp Tigers last Friday. The team had produced two quarters of outstanding play: solid assignment football, great effort and almost no mistakes. 

Mineola led at the half, 8-7. The second half just did not go the Yellowjackets way. Mineola lost the momentum with a long Tiger kick-off return to open the second half and coughed up two turnovers leading to short fields for the visiting Tigers. The result: Arp 35, Mineola 8.  

In what has become an oddity in modern football, each team possessed the ball only once in the first quarter. Mineola drove the ball for 15 plays and Arp for 17 plays. The Jackets turned that possession over on downs, while the Tigers missed a field goal attempt.

The Jackets scored on their second possession, marching 76 yards in 14 plays. Kipton Neighbors carried the ball over the goal-line by busting through three defenders. Braelyn Geremonte scooted around the right end for the 2-point conversion. 

Arp struck back. The Tigers hit a 62-yard go-route to the slot receiver,  taking the ball down to the Jacket 1-yard line. Despite a crunching tackle from Geremonte, Arp managed to just get the ball over the line on the next play.   

The Tigers returned the second half kick-off into Mineola territory. Then, they took advantage of Mineola’s defensive pursuit by running a series of misdirection plays. One of those crossbuck plays carried the ball to the Mineola 10-yard line. Arp scored two plays later.

Defensively, the Tigers stopped reading the Mineola blocking cues and simply attacked. They rushed in behind any Mineola lineman pulling to the opposite side of the formation. They slant-stunted on nearly every play. 

The Jackets were stonewalled in the second half, managing only 68 yards in the face of the onrushing defense. 

A fumble gave Arp a short field which they converted to make the score 21-8. Following an interception, Arp scored from 26 yards out on a triple option pitch. 

After three quarters the score stood 28-8. The visitors added a score in the final quarter, but the game had been long decided. 

There were a ton of positive takeaways from this game and a rich harvest of improvements as well. As the Jackets continue to work toward the Sept. 26 district-opener at Mt Vernon, they will certainly benefit from all the learning points of the Arp game. 

Mineola hosts the North Lamar Panthers this Friday in the last pre-district match-up.